One of my coworkers refers to Open Source as “the most incredible thing humanity has ever accomplished.” When he says that, he’s not making a socioeconomic or political statement, nor is he ignoring technical shortcomings. Rather, he is making an observation about how millions of people have created this immense pile of loosely coupled legos that actually all kind of fit together, without any central direction or fiat authority, with the only final arbiter being user adoption.